Three years later
by PrettyCleanJess
Summary: It's been three years since Reid went missing. Three years exactly, and the team hasnt forgotten about him. What happens when Morgan sees a familiar face at a bar. Rated M for eventual talk of drug, abuse, and possible non-con
1. Chapter 1

**My first Criminal Minds fic, and of course I own nothing. Please leave a review :)**

Chapter 1

Three years. That's how long it's been since he went missing. Three years, exactly, since Morgan and the team had seen their boy genius. Everyone deals with this time of year differently. JJ locks herself in her office, and from outside you can hear the sound of sniffling and crying coming from inside. Garcia brings flowers and places them on Reid's desk, which has remained otherwise untouched for three years. Gideon travels to his cabin to be alone for two weeks. Hotch is extremely cold to everyone he talks to, but behind his eyes, you can see the same sadness everyone else is filled with. On the anniversary of his disappearance, Morgan goes to a bar and has a drink for the two of them.

As he finishes his first drink, Morgan pulls a photo of Spencer out of his wallet. "Hey there pretty boy," he smiles, though very faintly. "I want you to know how much I miss you, how much we all miss you." Derek couldn't believe it had been three years since he'd gone missing. "We'll never stop looking for you," he frowned, choking back tears, "we'll never stop trying to find out what happened to you."

As the bartender refills his drink, Morgan couldn't help but feel that if they'd only noticed he was gone sooner, this all could have been over by now. How could it have taken two weeks to figure out he was gone. A few sips into his drink, he begins to think back to three years ago.

 **Three years ago**

"Hey kid! You in there?" Morgan shouts, knocking on Reid's door. It had been two weeks since he'd left on vacation, and he was supposed to be back a week ago. Everyone assumed he had decided to stay a little longer, and knew that he wouldn't have any cell service up in the mountains, but after an extra week had gone by, and still no word, they were beginning to worry.

Morgan turned the knob, only to find it unlocked. "Reid!" He called out again, stepping into his home. Morgan flipped the light switch on and off several times with no luck, so he pulled out is flash light. "Come on kid, where are you," he says to himself, knowing for sure now that he isn't here. As he looks around, Morgan begins to feel uneasy. Everything is very well kept, not a speck of dust in the air, and yet he can't help but feel like something is off.

Morgan had only been to the young agent's house a handful of times, but he felt like everything was out of place. He could have sworn there was a glass coffee table in the middle of the living room, and while there were two pictures on the wall, Morgan remembered there being three.

Grabbing the phone attached to his belt, he began to dial Hotch's number. It only rang twice before his boss picked up. "Hotch, it's Derek. The door was unlocked when I got here and something doesn't feel right." He continues to look around and notices the house plant. The soil inside is loose, like it had been spilled and cleaned back up. Moving to the kitchen now, Morgan notices a note on the table.

 _ _Don't look for me__

 _ _-S__

"Hotch, call the team. Get down here, now

 **Present day**

"Can I buy you another," an unfamiliar female voice snaps him out of his memory.

"Not interested," he coldly responds without a glance in her direction.

"Of come on baby," the woman presses.

Finally looking up, Morgan meets her gaze. He looks he up and down, as if he were checking her out. When he looks up again she's smiling at him, bitting get lip. Smiling seductively, Derek leans in to whisper in her ear, "Go home to your family." As he leans away he catches the look on her face and can tell she's baffled. "Your hand," he states, "the tan line on your ring finger tells me you're married. The car keys in your hand belong to a minivan, so obviously you have kids. So I repeat, not interested." It didn't take a profiler to notice any of this, just a little bit of observational skills.

She looks him in the before splashing the remains of her drink in his face. "Ass hole," she yells as she walks away.

He sighs, turning around, "you're the one trying to cheat and yet I'm the asswh-" he stops mid insult as someone bumps into him. "Hey watch it man," he says as he turns in the direction the guy is walking in. Irritated, and receiving no response from the stranger, he gets up and chases him down. Grabbing the man's shoulder, he turns him around, "I said wat-" he freezes dead the moment he sees the face of the man in front of him. Looking at the terrified eyes with dark circles that look back at him, he instantly recognizes the young man looking back at him.

"Spence?"


	2. Chapter 2

**sorry for any grammar mistakes, laptop is broken and I had to proofread on my phone. Please review :)**

 **chapter 2**

"Spence?" Morgan says in disbelief. The young man's eyes are filled with fear. "Spencer it's me, it's Derek." Looking it Reid, his heart sinks. He doesn't recognize him.

"Help me," Reid whispers, before turning and continuing to walk away, even faster now. Morgan follows, calling for him to stop.

"Kid, come back here," he calls as he closes the distance.

"There you are sweetie," an unfamiliar man's voice calls out. Reid stops dead in his tracks, almost causing the older agent to run into him. The man behind the voice appears, pushing through a crowd of people. "I thought I'd lost you." Both Reid and the unknown man facing Morgan now, the man puts his arm around Reid, his other hand remaining in his jacket pocket. Morgan sees Reid flinch as he does this. "I see you found my husband, Henry, " the man says addressing Morgan now.

Husband? Henry? Looking over Reid, Morgan could tell he looked absolutely terrified. Every move the man made caused Reid to flinch, as if he feared he'd be hit. Morgan may not know why the younger agent didn't recognize him, but he knew one thing for sure. This man was not his friend.

Morgan begins to reach for his holstered gun, only to be stopped by the man. "Ah ah ah Agent Morgan, I wouldn't do that if I were you." A red dot quickly appeared on Reid's forehead, but the young man remained unfazed. Either he had no clue it was there, or he expected it.

"Henry and I are celebrating our three year anniversary," the man continued as if nothing had happened, "aren't we sweetie." Morgan watches Reid nod, but very quickly obviously in fear of repercussions for not complying.

Three years, that's how long it had been since the man in front of him had gone missing. It didn't take a genius to understand that this was the man responsible for his disappearance. Morgan's hand remained on his gun, waiting for on opportunity, but none came. Instead, the man did something Morgan didn't expect. Spinning Reid to face him now and leaning in, the man said "happy anniversary baby," and forced a kiss on Reid. Unable to do anything, Morgan watched as his friends lips remained sealed and a few tears began to stream down Reid's face.

The stranger pulled his face away from Reid's for a moment, and whispered just loud enough for the three of them to hear, "oh, come on pet. I think you can do better than that." Immediately after, Morgan witnessed something strange happen. He watched as instantly, Reid's whole posture changed. He stood up straighter, his shoulders broader, and put his arms around the strangers shoulders. This time, when the man kissed him, something was different. This time, Reid kissed back. No tears fell down his face, and when they pulled away, Reid was actually smiling.

If anyone else had stumbled upon these two, they would have thought nothing of it. Just a couple enjoying a night out. But Morgan knew better. As happy as Reid might have appeared in that moment, his eyes gave it away. His eyes repeated the same "help me" that Reid had whispered to him only a few minutes ago.

"Spence, I'm gonna get you out of this, okay?" He says very calmly, hand still on his gun.

Reid turns to face him now, "I'm sorry sir, " he says, "I think you may have me confused with someone else."

"No, your name is Spencer Reid. You worked for the behavioral analysis unit in the FBI, up until three years ago this day, when you went missing."

Morgan saw the confusion on Reid's face, saw his eyes flash between Morgan and the stranger. He also noticed the strange looks they were getting from others in the bar. They were beginning to draw attention.

The stranger must have noticed this too, because the red dot on Reid had vanished. Before Morgan could take advantage of the opportunity and pull out his gun, the stranger, keeping his eyes on Morgan, finally removed his other hand from his pocket, revealing a remote detonator.

Morgan didn't understand how he could have missed this. Under Reid's shirt looked big and bulky. But the rest of him was thin. His arms looked like twigs and his face was sunken in. Morgan blamed the dim lighting and the few drinks he'd had on an empty stomach for not realizing sooner what was happening.

Reid's eyes remained on Morgan, still smiling, as if he had know clue what was going on.

"Now Henry," the stranger said "why don't you go wait in the car while I have a word with our new friend." Reid hesitated for a second, but nodded and walked out the door. A few moments later the man addressed Morgan. "Now, you are going to let me walk out of this bar, you are going to wait 1 minute before you leave. You are not to pick up your phone to make any calls before that minute is up."

"And why would I do any of that."

"You remember my friend," as he said that, the dot reappeared on his own hand, not a shot that would kill him, but to make a point. "If you so much as move, I will know, and I will blow our little friend to smithereens."

"What did you do to him?" Morgan demands.

"I don't know what you mean Agent Derek Morgan, you'll have to be more specific."

"You have him following your orders, he didn't recognize me, he didn't even seem to be aware of what was happening."

"Oh yes, that. Well you see, there's a lot you've missed in three years. Once he realized his friends had given up on him, that just made things so much easier. Now remember," the man said as he backed away, "not a single move."

Morgan did as he said, and when the minute was up he considered chasing down the man still in the bar, but he knew that would only put more distance between him and his friend's captor. As he ran to his car he pulled out his phone and began to dial. Turning the key in the ignition the engine began to roll over but wouldn't start.

Morgan tried again with no luck to start his car, but it didn't matter. Even if it managed to start, they had a minute on him, and he had know clue what car he was driving or what direction they'd gone in. He was beginning to realize that this whole event was planned, nothing about it was random. The man picked this bar on this night because he knew Morgan would be there, and he must have done something to Morgan's car before even stepping foot inside. He had every little detail planned out. But why?

"Hotch!" Morgan called out when he heard the other agent on the phone, "it's Reid, he's alive!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the short break. Just a heads up, I work full time and my semester just started, so while i will continue to write, i cant promise a set schedule because i don't want to compromise quality for quantity. Still, ill do my best to get chapters out consistently. Thanks for reading, and as always, please review :)**

Chapter 3

I have to get out of here. I NEED to get out of here. If I'm fast I can find the door before HE comes back. But it's dark, and there are a lot of people in here. If I'm not fast enough, he'll find me, and he'll be mad. If I am though, I can get out, but he'll find me anyways, and he'll be even madder. But that was the point, wasn't it? He brought me here and set me lose just to be caught again. That's the way it always was. It was his way of reminding me that I'm his, that I always will be. Still, I have to try.

Looking around, I see an exit sign in the back. If I push through, I can make it. I bump into someone, but I keep going. I just have to be fast enough. I hear someone calling out as I run, but I ignore it. A few seconds later I'm being spun around. I wasn't fast enough, he's found me already. But when I meet the gaze of the one who grabbed me, it isn't him.

I've never seen this man before, and yet his face seems so familiar. The man looks at me in shock. He says something to me, a name I think, but I'm too focused on getting out to actually hear what he says. I need to get out of here, but something about this man seems safe. "Help me," I plead, before turning and continuing towards the door, and I can feel him following behind me. I know it's too late though, this encounter has set me back. I've lost too much time.

As if he were reading my mind, I hear HIS voice. I stop dead, knowing there's nothing I can do. HE spins me around to face the other man from before. I can't help but twitch when HE puts his arm around me. I know he won't hurt me here, but the knowledge of what awaits me later is enough. I think they are talking, but I'm beginning to zone out. Whatever he's saying doesn't matter, he's already won. The other man reaches for something at his side, but stops. I can see fear in his eyes this time when he looks at me, but I don't understand why. This man doesn't know me.

HE spins me around to face him and looks at me with determination, and I know what's going to happen before it does. Seconds later I can feel his lips on mine. I want to fight but I know it won't matter. Still, I can't keep the tears from streaming down my face.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. HE pulled away and looked at me once more. He whispers something just loud enough to hear, and for a second I'm afraid, but then I feel the urge to fight slipping away. The fear I felt before is replaced by something much stronger. It's replaced by love for the man holding onto me. When he kisses me this time, I lean into it, putting my arms around him, around my husband.

When this kiss is over, the stranger with us calls me by a name I don't recognize. I think it's the same one he called me earlier. I correct him, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. Whoever he has me confused with must be someone he cares deeply about. I'm told to go sit in the car, and I want to stay and console the stranger, but I obey. I always obey. As I turn to leave I can hear the conversion continue, but can't make anything out.

Once I reach the car I instinctively get into the back seat behind the partition. I hear the doors lock. This doesn't surprise me, and neither does the gas that the car begins to fill with. Still, for a few seconds before the gas kicks in, I being to remember where I am, and I being to feel the fear resurface. Before I can do anything about it, the gas begins to do take effect, and I begin to slip away. Just before I lose consciousness, I hear the car door open and close, and I hear his voice one more time. "You understand now, don't you? You will always be mine" and then I'm gone.

Prentiss picked Morgan up before the two of them headed to the office together. Before she got there, Morgan demanded to look at the security footage, but the cameras weren't working. He knew that wasn't a coincidence.

"Was it really him," Prentiss asks as he gets into the car.

"Yes," is the only response she gets.

"I'm just saying, our mind can play tricks on us. We're all worked up this time of year and you've had a few dr-"

"Emily, it was him. He was right in front of me, and I let him get away."

The rest of the drive was silent until they reached the office. "Has anyone told Garcia?" Morgan asked as they got out of the car and began to walk inside.

"We thought she would take it better coming from you, she's on her way in now."

"And Gideon?"

"We haven't been able to reach him. Rossi is driving up to his cabin as we speak."

"How could we have let this happen," Morgan asked. "For years we kept saying we would never stop looking for him, but let's be honest, we gave up a long time ago."

"Derek, you know that isn't true."

"Every time a body matching his description turns up, we're all so sure it's going to be him. We were all positive he was dead, but he wasn't. For three years he's been in the hands of this bastard!" Morgan was yelling now.

"Hey, this isn't your fault Morgan." She tries to hush them as the reach the bullpen.

Morgan stops, and faces her now as he speaks. "Prentiss, you should have seen him. He was so scared, and I just sat there unable to do anything. He didn't recognize me, but that wasn't the worst part."

"What do you mean?"

"Emily, he didn't recognize his own name. Henry, that's what the man called him. That's what he called himself."

Morgan hears the door open and sees JJ, Hotch, and Garcia spilling in. The rest of the team, including Prentiss begin to head to the briefing room, but Garcia heads straight for Morgan. He can tell she looks extremely confused. She has no clue what's going on, but she knows it's serious. Morgan begins to think through how he is going to explain this to her.

As they walked into the briefing room, Emily couldn't help but think about the last thing Morgan told her. He didn't recognize his own name. What kind of a number did this man do on their friend? While she didn't want to admit it, Morgan was partially right about giving up on him. They never stopped looking for him, but they were looking for a body. They all subconsciously thought he died a long time ago.

Prentiss watches Morgan and Garcia enter the room. Garcia has fresh tears rolling down her face and she can't control her sniffling. Emily understands how she's feeling, as she is having a hard time keeping herself from punching something.

The phone on the table began to ring as the team sat down. Hotch presses the button to answer it. "You're on speaker," he says. There's a moment of silence before anyone speaks.

"What do we know," a voice asks. Prentiss recognizes it as Gideon's.

"Nothing yet Sir," Garcia speaks up. Emily can tell she is still choking back tears. Garcia stands and begins to head out the door "I'm going to start pulling footage from surrounding street cams to see if I can find their faces," she says as she leaves.

"The cameras inside the bar conveniently didn't work," Morgan says, audibly frustrated. "I get the feeling the guy paid the owner off to disable them."

"If that's the case," Rossi's voice chimes in through the phone, "there is a good chance that he was in that bar at an earlier date to make the arrangement."

Hotch seems to agree with this. "Prentiss, you head back there and look through earlier footage."

Emily was skeptical that the owner would let her look through the footage if he really was being paid off. Still, she was sure she'd think of some way to "persuade" him into giving her what she needed. She could tell that Morgan wasn't happy about being excluded from this task. And she wasn't the only one to pick up on this.

"Do you have a problem with this?" Hotch asks.

"Sir, I should be there with her," he responds. "I may be able to pick up on something I missed earlier."

"Morgan, right now you are the last person to see Reid, and the only person to see the Unsub. You may have already picked up on more than you know."

"You want to give me a cognitive interview?" Morgan asks, understanding what Hotch was getting at.

Hotch nods. "I think it may be helpful. You already told me that you didn't initially notice the bomb; there may be something else you missed. Right now you are of more use to us here than at that bar."

Morgan stood silent for a few moments, but eventually he nodded. Prentiss heard sniffling at the door, and turned to see Garcia had returned.

"Bomb?" Garcia asks.

It becomes apparent to Prentiss that Morgan had failed to tell Garcia everything, and she can understand why. They all expected Garcia to break down, but she surprised them. Instead, she turned and left with new determination to find the car, or any information, they were looking for. Prentiss felt that same determination as she headed out the door, and for her car. She would do whatever it took to get any information out of the bar owner. This was her friend they were looking for, and an attack on one of them is an attack on all of them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the wait, super busy with work and school, but another chapter is on the way soon. Thank you to those still reading, and as always, please review! All mistakes are my own.**

 **Chapter 4**

Before Prentiss left and before Morgan's cognitive interview, Hotch had Morgan sit down with an FBI sketch artist to give a description of the Unsub. With no actual picture of the man, Morgan's description was all they would have to work with.

He was tall, slightly taller than Reid, so 6'2'', maybe 6'3''. White. In his late 30's to early 40's. No distinguishable scars or birthmarks. The lighting was dim, so Morgan didn't get a good look at his eyes, and his hair looked dark brown, but it could have been black. After thirty minutes alone with the sketch artist, Morgan returned with the closest depiction of the man they were going to get. Hotch gave Prentiss a copy of the sketch, and she was on her way.

The team had decided not to release the sketch to the media. It was a hard decision, as Reid was their friend, and this case was personal to them, but they understood that releasing it would do more harm than good. This man was extremely generic, and releasing it could cause a flood of phone calls from worried citizens, certain that the man in the sketch is their neighbor, friend, relative, or co-worker. The team's best hopes were that Prentiss could get something out of the bar owner, or that Morgan could provide additional insight after his cognitive interview.

Not wasting any time, Hotch motioned for Morgan to follow him. The two agents walked into an interrogation room and shut the door. They sat down at opposite sides of a desk that sat in the center of the room. There was a one way mirror located on the wall to the left of the men, and Morgan was sure Rossi and Gideon were on the other side. Morgan had seen them return while he was with the sketch artist.

"Are you ready," Hotch asked, pulling his phone out to record the interview. Morgan nodded in response. "Let's begin then," he said pressing the record button. "I want you to close your eyes and go back to the bar, right before Reid showed up. What are you going?"

"I'm drinking at the bar alone, and a woman walks up to flirt with me."

"What do you do?"

"I brush her off and keep looking down at first, but she's persistent."

"Do you look up?" Hotch asks.

"Yes"

"What do you do next?"

"I want her to go away, so I profile her. I tell her to go home to her family." Hotch can't help but smirk when he hears this.

"Now, look around the room, what do you see?"

"The bar is pretty packed, it's couples night I think. Wait!"

"What is it? What do you see?"

"Over her shoulder, I think I see Reid, but he isn't alone." Morgan's breathing is increasing in speed

"Who is he with?" Hotch asks in a calm tone of voice, trying to relax Morgan.

"I'm not sure, but it's not the same man I met. Whoever it is, they're holding onto Reid's arm, leading him into the room."

"Is Reid fighting back?"

"No, he's following. He looks-" Morgan pauses.

"Looks what? What's wrong?"

"He looks detached. He's just kind of standing there. Wait, the person is putting something in his ear, like a listening device or something. I can't be sure, his hair is too long and it covers it."

"What happens next?"

"The man leaves, he's hiding his face, I can't see what he looks like."

"That's okay. What does Reid do does he leave?"

"No, he's still just….standing there. God Hotch!"

"What is it?"

"He looks drugged!" Hotch could hear Morgan start to panic.

"I need you to keep focusing, what's happening?"

"The woman, she's gone now. I insulted her, and she splashed her drink in my face. I'm about to turn around to call out to her"

"Okay, but before you do what about Reid? Can you still see him?"

"Yeah he looks the sam- Wait, something's changing. His eyes are wide, he looks panicked now. He's starting to run in my direction, but I've turned around now. I'm calling out to the woman."

"Does she turn around? What happens?"

"No, she doesn't. But someone bumps into me and keeps going. It's Reid. I call for him to stop, but he doesn't even flinch, so I chase after him and grab him. God, Hotch I scared him. He probably thought it was the other man."

"Don't worry about that now. What does Reid do?"

"He asks for help, but he turns to run again. That's when the other man shows up."

"Okay, so you've already told us about this interaction. What I need you to do now is focus on things you missed. What is Reid wearing?"

"He's wearing jeans, and a t-shirt. The shirt looks slightly big. Probably to conceal the bomb. There's something on Reid's hand….is that? God, it's a wedding band. He's really committed to this act."

"Is the other man wearing one?"

"No."

"Is Reid fidgeting with his?"

"No, he's not touching it at all, like he's used to it being there. It's dark so I can't be sure, but it looks old"

"Okay, back to the conversation."

"The man kisses him, and Reid looks scared but then- but then the man whispers something and he isn't scared anymore. It's a really sudden change, like before when the first man left him alone and he started to panic. OH MY GOD!" Morgan yelled, opening his eyes, unable to focus on the interview any longer. Hotch pieces it together at the same time, and he begins to feel his own heart race.

"Hotch, they…they-"

The two men hear the door open and look to see Gideon standing it the door frame, eyes wide. "They brainwashed him!"


	5. Chapter 5

**So sorry for the wait guys, been a hell of a year :) gonna try to get back to updating as often as i can. As always, Please leave a review if you liked it 3**

 **Chapter 5**

Prentiss spent the car ride to the bar contemplating how she would handle the bar owner. The warrant they wanted had yet to be signed off by a judge, and they didn't have time to waste waiting for it. The way the cameras were conveniently turned off before implied that the owner wasn't as innocent as he pretended to be, so Prentiss knew he would put up a fight. He'd probably come up with some bullshit excuse about protecting the privacy of his customers, or that the cameras memory only goes back a day. Regardless, she didn't plan on leaving the bar empty handed, even if it meant getting physical, though she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Upon arriving, Prentiss noticed that the red truck she had learned belonged to the owner the last time she was here was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if he possibly had a second car, or was dropped off for his shift today. Emily enters and heads straight for the front counter, making brief eye contact with the woman behind it before approaching her. The woman took this as her queue to great her.

"Good evening, Ma'am," the woman said politely, "we aren't quite open yet, but if you give me a few moments to clean up, I'll get you something on the house."

"That won't be necessary," Prentiss replies. "I'm Special Agent Emily Prentiss with the FBI, I'm looking for the owner."

"You're looking at her, what can I do for you,\/" the woman asks, putting down the rag in her hand.

"I'm sorry, I spoke to a gentleman late last night claiming to be the owner, was that not true? I didn't catch his name." Emily is a little confused. If she's the owner Prentiss might have to go about this differently. How though, she wasn't sure yet.

"Oh that must have been Matt, my ex -husband," the woman responds, "we co-own this place together. He isn't in today"

"You opened a bar with your ex?"

"We opened this place years ago when we were still married. It was his idea, the marriage was already going downhill so I think I agreed as a way to try to save the marriage. Some people have a baby, but us, we opened a bar." She said chuckling, more out of regret than humor. "My name's Linda, now you still haven't said what I can help you with."

"Right," Prentiss says, remembering why she was here. "Like I said, I was here yesterday talking to your ex. We're investigating a missing person's case and believe our suspect," she pauses, handing over the sketch of the man Morgan saw, "was a customer of yours. We know he was here last night but according to Matt, your cameras weren't working last night."

Linda frowns, "I don't recognize him, but Matt was right. Our cameras stopped working about two days ago, Matt was supposed to call someone to come fix them, but I can't ever get that lazy son of a bitch to do anything fast enough. I'm sorry but if the person you're looking for was here yesterday, we won't be much help."

"I'd still like access to the footage from the few weeks prior if you have it." Prentiss says.

"You think he was here before?"

"Ma'am, how close are you and your ex?" Prentiss asks." I mean, the two of you still own this place even after the divorce." Prentiss thinks understanding their relationship might help her decide how to handle this.

"Matt tried to get me to sign over my half, but I won't give him the satisfaction. Truthfully, I can't stand him. The man's a scum bag, and I'm honestly glad the only thing we share is this bar, I can't even picture having a kid. Why do you ask?"

"Ma'am, the FBI believes you're ex may have been involved. To what capacity, we aren't sure yet, but we get the feeling he was in direct communication with our Unsub. We don't believe in coincidences, and the idea that our Unsub just happened to pick a bar only a day after the cameras stopped working is a red flag."

"I can't stand the man, but I never once thought of him as a criminal. Are you sure?" Linda asks.

"It is an extreme possibility, but the question is, are you sure he's NOT involved? Ma'am if you have any doubt about him, even the slightest, this is your chance to be sure. To find out exactly the type of man he REALLY is."

Linda hesitates for a moment. "Our servers are upstairs in my office," she states, motioning for Emily to follow her as she walks out from behind the cameras.

Agents Hotch, Morgan, Rossi, and Gideon sit in the briefing room, discussing what their new revelation of Reid's brainwashing meant.

"Are we absolutely sure we're even right about this?" Rossi asked.

"Think about it," Morgan responded. "When I first bumped into Reid, he was terrified, on the verge of tears, and couldn't even look our Unsub in the eyes. Our Unsub whispers in his ear and suddenly Reid is overcome with confidence, and actually convinced he was in love with this guy?"

"You don't think it could have been an act?" Hotch asks, trying to weigh all the possibilities.

"NO," Morgan snaps, "and you wouldn't either if you were there."

There's a timid knock at the door before Garcia emerges from behind it. "Sorry to interrupt," she says just as quiet as her knock, "but Emily is back."

Seconds later, Prentiss walks into the room with a few disks in her hands. "The last three years worth of footage, minus the last 2 days, all dated and organized. The sever only holds the last months footage, but luckily they keep copies of everything since the bar was opened"

"And the owner just handed all this over?" Gideon asked, very skeptical.

"No," Prentiss responded, "but his very disgruntled ex-wife did. Turns out they own the bar together. I don't know what persuaded her to hand it over more, her desire to help, or her desire to screw him over."

"Garcia," Hotch calls out.

"Sir"

"How long will it take for you to comb through this?"

"If we had a physical image of him I could simply enter it into facial recognition software, but without it this is gonna take a while longer. Three years is a lot to look through."

"Well he obviously was in the bar very recently," Morgan chimes in, "why don't you start with the past week and work in reverse?"

"I like the way you think, I'll try that and hopefully I can pinpoint the first time he appears." And with that, Garcia exits the room with haste back to her office to analyze the footage.

Once she leaves Emily takes a seat next to Morgan. They catch her up on their latest theory, and the conversation continues as if it never ended.

"Just asking the obvious here," Prentiss says, "but why now. I mean, it's been three years, so why now?"

"To taunt us," Morgan responds.

"Yes, but why. I mean, he's obviously been watching us. How else would he know you'd be at that exact bar on that exact day?"

"I go there every year on that day."

"Exactly, so he had to have been watching you to know that, but watching you for three years? Why?"

"Well, if our theory about the brainwashing is right, maybe it took time." Rossi offers in response.

"Maybe, but even then, there has to be some bigger plan at play. You don't just kidnap someone who happens to be in the FBI. And then you reveal them to their team only to put them on your trail? It's like he wants us to find him."

"Or he doesn't," Morgan says, irritated. "Maybe this is all a game. Maybe he is extremely confident in his ability to remain hidden, and him bringing Reid out into the open was his way of proving to Reid that even right in front of us, we can't save him."

"Derek, this isn't your fault," Emily tries to console him.

"You guys weren't there. Spencer was less than five feet away from me and I couldn't do a damn thing. I let that man get away with him."

"You said it yourself that your car had obviously been tampered with." Hotch says. "The Unsub obviously thought this whole thing through from start to finish. He had an advantage on you, and that isn't your fault. We are going to find him, and the moment you start to believe that, the easier this will be."

"I hope you're right," Morgan says as he stands and exits the room.

"We all do," Rossi says once the door closes behind him.


	6. Chapter 6

**TAH-DAH, see I told you id try to write more frequently. Hope you guys like this chapter :) as always, reviews are appreciated! Any mistakes are my own.**

 **Chapter 6**

It's been almost twenty four hours since HE let me out in public again. At least, I think it has been. I don't really remember anything after the gas made its way into my lungs. When I woke up I was back at the compound, back in my room. Its cold, it always is. My room is near pitch black aside from the small shine of a red tinted light that makes its way through the cracks in the slit at the bottom of my door. The slit is only opened once a day or twice if I've been good in order to provide me with food and water. The food is barely edible, and contains only enough nutrition to keep me alive. I most certainly had not been good today. I tried to run. But that was the point, wasn't it?

HE liked to play this game a lot. Set me free in a public area only to catch me again. To be honest, I stopped putting in any real effort a long time ago. It always ends the same. That was what HE wanted, and I knew it. This time was different though. This time, someone tried to talk to me. That never happens. The one rule in His game was no human contact. If I spoke to anyone, HE'D kill them. I couldn't risk it. But this person, he seemed safe, and more importantly, HE didn't kill the man. I don't know why, but it really isn't important.

I'm sitting in the old mattress in the corner of my room when I hear footsteps approaching. I can hear a muffled voice talking, maybe on a phone, but I'm not sure who is on the other end. I hold my breath as the footsteps get closer, unconsciously rubbing the needle marks on my arm. When was the last time HE'D given me the drug? Too long. I'm starting to feel the cold sweats set in.

"Another successful test," I hear as the voice reaches the door. It's not HIM, it's a woman's voice I hear. Is she talking about me? Suddenly the slit opens, and a taser sounds, my queue to back away from the door. A tray is hastily pushed through, spilling half its contents on the floor. I don't care though, I don't get to be picky, or rather, pets don't get to be picky. "We should be ready for a demonstration soon," she says to whoever she's talking to, closing the slit and continuing down the hall.

I wait to be sure she has gone before lounging for the food, almost like and animal, but I lost any sense of dignity long ago. As I eat, I notice a syringe that has fallen off the tray, grabbing it and placing it next to me for when I'm done. At first, I refused the drugs, fighting with the little strength I had. But I was always overpowered, and after a while it didn't matter anyways. My body had become dependent on them, I began to crave the drugs and soon found myself begging for them. I wasn't sure at first what the point of the drugs was, but it didn't take long to figure it out.

Beyond weakening my body, it was a power play. He was looking for any way to make me dependent on him, and drugs were the obvious choice. Watching me beg for them made HIM happy. At this point, even if I wanted to refuse them, it would kill me. Not that I wanted to anymore. The drugs became my only escape. Most days I wasn't allowed to leave my room, and when I did, it was never good. Endless tests, and experiments, and torture. Retreating into my mind is my only method of escaping from the physical and mental pain. The drugs helped with the nightmares too. Those came nearly every night without out them.

I finished my food and head back to my mattress, needle in hand. I'm not actually sure what's in the syringe, but it doesn't matter. It could be killing me, but it's not like that wasn't something I'd already tried to do a million times. As I injected the contents of the syringe into my arm and begin to fade away, I slip into a memory of one of my first months on the compound.

 _My eyes open, and I find myself in a large cage in the center of an even larger room, filled with hallways and walls that don't quite touch the ceiling. It takes me a few seconds to fully assess the situation, as whatever drugs I was given are still in my system. After a few moments, I realize what this is, a maze. There's a bright light on a wall on the opposite end of the room, presumably to mark the end of the maze. A voice chimes in over a PA system._

 _"_ Welcome back boy _," it's the voice of the man who had taken me, he always calls me boy, never Spencer or Reid. I have yet to figure out his name, being instructed only to call him sir. When I refuse, I'm beaten, sometimes within inches of death. "_ I'm sure you've figured out where you are. You see, I thought we'd play a little game," _he chuckles._ "Let's see how long it takes you to find your way out and maybe there will be a reward in it for you."

 _"_ AND IF I REFUSE? _" I yell back, not sure if he can even hear me._

"Yes I thought about that, that's why I've decided to make this a little interesting." _I cover my ears as a deafening whistle sounds over the PA. The whistle is immediately followed by the barking of dogs, and by the sound of it, big dogs. My heart begins to beat faster as adrenaline starts to kick in. I pray that it's enough to offset the remnants of the drugs in my system._ "Why don't I give you a head start, say, five minutes" _The man says as a loud buzz rings, signaling the release of his door. "_ And boy _," he says,_ "I'd hurry if I were you. They're extremely hungry."

 _I push through the door, sprinting as fast as I can around the first corner, all the while hearing the dogs barking in the background. I'm almost immediately met another two corners. Choosing the one on the left I continue on, only to be met with two more, and then two more, and then a dead end. I backtrack to the last corner, but I'm met with another dead end. A buzz sounds, signaling the first minute. I can't help but think that if these drugs weren't in my system, I'd be doing a hell of a lot better. I'm a genius, for fucks sake, I should be blowing through this._

 _I have to regain my concentration, focusing on the drugs isn't doing any good. Quickly I turn around and continue on my way, making more turns and back tracking my steps more than half of the time. The buzzer sounds two more times, each time forcing me to move faster until I can finally see the light coming closer. As I propel myself around a corner, I trip and hurt my ankle, crying out in pain. I take a quick moment to try to assess the wound, and pray that it's only a sprain. The fourth buzzer rings and I manage to force myself up and continue on._

 _I can feel myself getting closer, but I'm moving at half speed now, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my ankle. It isn't long before the final buzzer rings and I can hear a gate loudly thrash open. I'm not sure how many dogs there are, it sounded like three. I turn more and more corners as I can hear the dogs quickly approaching, no doubt following my sent._

 _As I'm beginning to lose hope and about to give up, I turn one last corner and am met with a straight, long hallway that leads to an empty room. I force myself to ignore the pain and regain speed as the distance between me and the exit decreases. Glancing behind me I see the dogs burst around the corner. I was right, three of them. I give myself one last push as I burst through the exit, and a heavy metal door slams behind me, only fractions of a second to spare._

 _I take a moment to catch my breath, leaning over with my hands on my knees, but I am startled by the sound of clapping. "Five minutes and thirty-two seconds. Cutting it close, aren't we." My captor was about fifteen feet away from me. I notice an armed guard behind me, standing by the door I just came through. I can still hear the dogs barking behind me._

 _"_ THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A GAME _!" I yell, gasping for breath at the end. I never was athletic._

 _"_ Exhilarating, isn't it _," He says with a wide grin on his face. "_ Next time, you'll be faster."

 _"_ Next time _," I scoff. I pause for a minute, considering whether I should ask, but I'm too curious not to. "_ What's my reward _," I ask, dryly. "_ You said if I won there would be a reward."

 _"_ Ah yes, isn't it obvious?" _He asks me. "_ No? Well to put it simply, boy, Life. You get to live. And that's all the gift you need. Now, my guard here will take you back to your room"

 _The man by the door begins to approach me. Acting quickly I tackle him to the ground, pulling his gun from his holster and jumping back to my feet as quick as possible, careful not to put too much pressure on my injured foot. Immediately, I have the gun aimed at the man, but as quickly as I got a hold of the gun, there were five more pointed at me. Turns out he had more men than I thought, waiting just outside._

"You pull that trigger boy, and you'll regret it. My men will drop you in a second _." He wasn't lying. I was surrounded, and I knew I couldn't take all five of his men. His words from earlier flashed through my head._ "Next time you'll be faster." _How many more times? How many more drugs, more beat downs? No, I couldn't let this go on any longer. There was only one way out, and I was sure as hell going to take it before that option was gone._

 _Quickly, before anyone had time to react, I put the gun to my head, and pulled the trigger. When I was met with a loud click, my heart sunk. The gun was empty._ "Sick bastard," _I mumbled under my breath._

"Did you really think it would be that easy boy?" _He asks as his men begin to corner me, the one I disarmed sneaking up behind me and sticking a needle in my neck. He pushes the plunger in and as I begin to lose consciousness, I hear the man's finally words._ "You're going to be my new pet." _He chuckles, turning his back and walking out the room. My eyes close with the door._

That was the first time I had been given the drugs, and the first of many times I would run the maze, and other experiments just like it, or even worse.

 **I hope you guys liked it, i wanted to show a little of what Reid went through in the three years he was missing. If you liked it, please leave a review :)**


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